Planet Cleanser [PAN2014]

It had been a tough dig. Three months in the Amazon jungle. The site had originally been discovered by illegal loggers who initially tried to hide it and obscure what they had found in order to keep the government away. Once they had cut and hauled away what timber they wanted they left as abruptly as they had come. Much to the chagrin of many scientists who believed the destruction of the rain forest would destroy the Earth.

Some time later, one of the loggers in a drunken state, had bragged about the find and was overheard by an archeology graduate student. The student quickly told his team leader what he had heard and without too much difficulty they found the site and began their dig. The graduate student felt convinced he had assured himself of his doctorate.

It was while excavating a small domed structure that they found what appeared to be a basketball sized meteorite. They conjectured that perhaps the ancient people had seen it fall and then retrieved it and had set it up in this domed structure as a religious icon. But they quickly realized that was not likely as there were no doorways into the dome.

They deciphered some of the writing which was only found on the outside of the dome and it contained dire warnings not to enter. The building had been very solidly built with three layers of incredibly, closely fitted stone making it airtight. They found numerous skeletal remains around the building without the normal indicators of planned burials. There were no signs of trauma to the skeletons but they were found in a manner indicating they just fell where they were standing.

It was on the second day after breaking into the dome that workers began to die. The first death was an older native man who they figured had had a heart attack. But when the second and third died within hours they became frightened and most of the workers had fled, believing they had brought a curse upon themselves.

The university team was then forced to do the labor themselves including bringing the meteorite out of the dome and into the sun. It was then they discovered something sinister was occurring. The meteorite began to rapidly exude a reddish fluid that congealed into a sticky film. Blisters began to form and grow until they burst releasing a very fine powder into the air and it appeared that whatever living thing it touched died within hours. Such was the case of everyone who had been in proximity to it.

The winds and rain increased the spread of the red dust and within one year it had spread globally. There had been a universal effort to stop its spread but nothing worked to stop it. The earth was soon empty of all living plants and animals except for those that had been genetically modified.

On Sendoor the farmers felt a great relief that the work was finely done. They had had such hope for terra farming planet Earth. But their best efforts came to not and the planet had to be cleansed. Their scientists were already researching what went wrong and planning their strategy to replant Earth. The chief scientist at MONSANTO was fired and a new director was set in place. He had made the mistake of sending agents to Earth to implement their plans but the humans had rebelled and crippled the organization.

Their plan had been initially thwarted when the indigenous people of the jungle had encased the Roundup Planet Cleanser and kept it from growing and spreading and doing its job. Their final conclusion was to let earth lie fallow for at least 100 Earth years to make sure there were no survivors.

a reply to: grayeagle

Very cool! ............. and to include Monsanto as the e-vile demonlord of the aliens...... well, that there was poetic justice. Enjoyed your story!

a reply to: grayeagle


A Really Good Read!!
I also liked the Evil Tie-In to Monsanto!

Perfect!!!

Thanks to everyone who has stopped by. I forgot how fun it is to write for these. Good luck to all of you who are also submitting and to those of you who haven't submitted a story yet get with it.

Loved the concept, greyeagle, my friend! Terraforming aliens are always bad for the native life, no?
Enjoyed it...

- AB

a reply to: grayeagle

Clever and bleak and fiendish all in one go. I love your writing grayeagle, you have the gift of transporting the reader to whatever environment you choose, and showing it to them in full technicolour; you are a very visual writer.
Love, love loved it!

B x

a reply to: beansidhe

I am humbled by your kind words. I began my writing here on ATS and have felt wonderful support from my fellow ATS brothers and sisters. Peace to you my friend.

a reply to: grayeagle

A great story grayeagle I also love your writing. And i hope your recovering well from your knee operation my friend

a reply to: grayeagle

Loved the little twist at the end!

Great story, I want more!!!!